Hearing that the person standing in front of him was actually a military commander, Song Jike looked at the other party's gaze, and his initial contempt turned into awe. He quickly straightened up and stood in front of Rokossovsky like a telephone pole.

"Alright, Comrade Lieutenant, please be seated." Rokossovsky pointed to the vacant seat next to him again and said politely: "I still need you to tell me about the situation of the Brest Fortress." With that, he sat down first.

Seeing that Rokossovsky had sat down, Songjik sat down in the seat next to him and asked solemnly: "Comrade commander, I don't know what you want to know?" ”

"Tell me about the fortress." In order to make Songjik understand what he meant, Rokossovsky also deliberately added: "I have only heard of this fortress, but I have never been there, so I want to have a general understanding of the fortress through you." ”

After Songjik understood what Rokossovsky meant, he began to gush about it"...... Located on the east bank of the Bug River on the border between Belarus and Poland, the Brest Fortress is a massive fortification on the main communication route connecting Warsaw-Moscow and Lithuania-Western Russia-Western Ukraine. It consists of four separate islets separated by the Bug River and an artificial canal, with the central fortress in the center of the entire fortified area. To the southwest is the Terespil fortress, due south is the Volyn fortress, and to the north the Kobrin fortress acts as a barrier. The forts were surrounded by rivers and were connected by bridges.

The central fortress was connected by gates and bridges with three other auxiliary fortresses, of which the Kobrin fortress in the north was connected by the Bright Bridge, and the Terespol fortress on the west bank of the Bug River was connected by the Terespol Gate and a huge rope bridge; The Warren Fortress in the south is connected by the Holm Gate and a drawbridge that can be opened and closed.

The Kobrin, Terespol and Volyn fortresses surrounded the central fortress and provided protection for the central fortress, each of which was surrounded by a fortified rampart, on which many forts were built, and many fortresses were also built to support the construction of fortresses, each of which was surrounded by canals or rivers and could only be communicated with the outside world by bridges. ……”

Rokossovsky was listening to Lieutenant Songjik's briefing when suddenly the operator came up and placed a telegram on the table. When Rokossovsky read the contents of the telegram, he slammed the table and said loudly to the operator: "Call the three division commanders and ask them to come to the army headquarters immediately for a meeting." ”

Songjik didn't know why Rokossovsky was angry, so he quickly stopped talking and stared nervously at the army commander who was walking around the house with his hands behind his back. And Kochetov, who was worthy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, had a hand in gathering intelligence, and while Rokossovsky was absent-minded, he secretly looked at the telegram on the table. I saw that it read: "The Ninth Mechanized Army, since the sudden occupation of Dubno by the Germans threatens the right flank of the Front and the Rivni area, the two mechanized corps, which were supposed to go to join your division, will turn to the Dubno area." You can abandon Lublin and return to the country as quickly as possible, so as not to be surrounded by the Germans. Chief of Staff of the Front, Pulkaev. ”

After Kochetov stole through the telegram, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. If the mechanized corps, which was supposed to arrive, changed the direction of the march, the 9th mechanized corps would become a lone army behind the enemy, and if it did not find a way to leave as soon as possible, it might fall into the encirclement of the German army and be completely annihilated. It is no wonder that Rokossovsky, after reading the message, suddenly became angry.

The three division commanders, who did not know what was going on, came to the headquarters one after another. Songjik, who was still sitting at the table, saw that senior commanders kept coming in, so he quickly got up and stood in the corner with Kochetov.

Scherstyuk walked up to Rokossovsky's side and asked curiously: "Comrade General, you called us, is there anything important?" ”

Rokossovsky walked to the table, grabbed the telegram, shoved it into his hand, and said angrily: "Look at it, this is a telegram that has just been sent by the command of the Front. It seems that our next plan will be adjusted accordingly. ”

When Scherstyuk read it, he was so stunned that when Novikov pulled the telegram out of his hand, he didn't have time to react at all. And after reading the telegram, the expressions on the faces of the other two division commanders also became stiff.

After a long time, Novikov cautiously asked: "Comrade commander, what should we do next?" ”

Rokossovsky looked at the three division commanders in front of him and said slowly: "If you withdraw from Lublin now and return directly to China along the road, it is very likely that you will be bombed by enemy planes or blocked by German armored forces on the road." If you want to return to Lutsk, you will have to pay a high price. ”

"What do you think, Comrade Commander?" Novikov asked briefly.

Rokossovsky stared at the map for a while, and then said carefully: "Didn't we receive a telegram from the Brest Fortress today?" Seeing that all three of them were nodding their heads to indicate that they knew about this, he continued: "I have decided to take a risk and not return to China by the same route for the time being. Instead, we went north first, and rushed directly to the Brest fortress, and after receiving a part of the defenders to break through, we turned south and entered the country from the Vvodava region. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, the three division commanders looked at each other, and no one spoke.

Rokossovsky knew that he was taking this deployment a little too much, after all, the troops were deep behind enemy lines, and no matter which direction they moved, they would encounter the Germans. In the end, the defenders of the Brest Fortress did not save them, but instead took all their troops into it.

After staring at the map for a while, the general, who first proposed to rescue the Brest Fortress, changed his mind: "Comrade General, although Lublin is only 137 kilometers from the Brest Fortress, there must be a lot of German troops stationed on the road. If we advance towards the fortress attack, for a few hours at most, we will be bombed by the superior artillery fire of the German army and the air force, and then we will really end up in total annihilation, as you said a few hours ago. ”

"The situation is not as serious as you think," Rokossovsky said confidently, "and our troops still disguised themselves as Germans and advanced along the road to the fortress. I estimate that the number of troops besieging the fortress will be at most one division, and the main force of the division will be placed on the east side of the fortress to block the reinforcements of our troops that may come from the east. ”

"Comrade Commander, do you think we need to get in touch with the defenders of the fortress?" Novikov cautiously asked: "You must know that we are wearing German uniforms, and if we approach the fortress rashly, we will have a misunderstanding with the defenders." ”

"I've thought about that." After Rokossovsky finished speaking, he instructed the telegrapher: "Send a message to the commissar of the fortress that we are ready to go to their rescue, and ask him to concentrate as many troops scattered in several fortresses as possible and break through to the west at six o'clock in the evening." ”

Hearing the content of Rokossovsky's message, Scherstyuk's mouth opened wide in surprise: "Comrade General, why let them break through at six o'clock? Knowing when it was still very light, their whereabouts would be completely exposed under the noses of the Germans, which would have led to the failure of the breakout operation. ”

In response to the question pointed out by Scherstyuk, Rokossovsky only said lightly: "Comrade General, we are going to operate in a completely unfamiliar place, and if it were night, we might unknowingly break into the Germans, and then we will not even know how we died." ”

"But, the wounded, what about the wounded?" Scherstyuk asked a little impatiently: "You know, we have just rescued hundreds of wounded people from the prisoner of war camp who are difficult to move, what should we do with them, and leave them all to the Germans?" ”

Leaving aside for a moment how Rokossovsky had a headache for the wounded, when the telegraph operator in the fortress received this telegram, he thought at first that he had read it wrong, and when he saw it clearly, he could not help but weep with joy. Fuming walked up to his side and asked strangely, "Comrade newspaper operator, what's the matter?" ”

"Comrade Political Commissar," the telegraph operator handed the telegram to Fuming, and said excitedly, "our reinforcements are coming." ”

When Fomin saw the telegram, he was ecstatic at first, but soon his brow furrowed, and he called Captain Zubachev to his side, told him what was on the telegram, and then asked in a low voice: "Comrade Captain, what do you think?" ”

"Conspiracy, it must be a conspiracy, Comrade Commissar." After listening to the contents of the telegram, Zubachev said without hesitation: "You must know that the west is full of Germans, and this telegram is intended to trick us out of the fortress, and then concentrate superior forces to destroy us." ”